2015 Home Renovations Start With An Energy Audit

If you’re considering a renovation this spring, now is the time to schedule a home energy audit. Professional energy auditors will run comprehensive tests on your home heating and cooling systems to ensure are airtight and not losing money every month blowing energy out your doors, windows, attic and floors.

What’s Involved in a Home Energy Audit?

The first thing a professional energy auditor will do is inspect your home, room to room, including your HVAC equipment and ductwork. The inspector will ask to review your utility bills from the past two years, to assess your energy usage patterns, and ask about your own comfort preferences.

The real “meat” of a professional energy audit comes with the blower-door test and thermographic scanning. In a blower-door test, a powerful fan is fitted into an exterior door frame, so it will blow outside. When it’s turned on, sucking air out of your home, the interior loses pressure. Sophisticated gauges measure how quickly the inside of your home returns to its regular air pressure. If it does so quickly, you have a lot of air leakage. In tandem with the blower-door test, thermographic imaging will show where air leaks are occurring, as well as where your home needs more insulation.

The energy auditor, once the assessment is complete, will provide your with a detailed report that includes recommendations for reducing energy waste. Typically, this includes suggestions for sealing air leaks, adding insulation, repairing or cleaning ductwork, and maybe even upgrading or replacing your cooling and heating systems.

Renovating Your Home

If you’re considering renovating your home, it makes sense to have an accurate picture of how your new addition will add to the value of your home, not detract from it.

For more information on the benefits of energy audits, or to schedule one for your Largo area home, contact us at United Air Conditioning.